Gordon Hudson Dowding (March 1, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was a lawyer and politician in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. He represented

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

and then

Burnaby-Edmonds Burnaby-Edmonds is a former provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada in use from 1966 to 2024. Under the 2021 redistribution that took effect for the 2024 election. the riding was divided between ...

in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

from 1956 to 1975 as a CCF/NDP member. He was born in

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...

and educated there and at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. In 1945, he married Gwen Olson. Dowding was called to the British Columbia bar in 1952 and the Alberta bar in 1967. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the provincial riding of

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abo ...

in 1952 and 1953. Dowding was the speaker of the British Columbia Legislature from 1972 to 1975 (he was the only incumbent NDP MLA not to be appointed to cabinet). He was defeated by Ray Loewen when he ran for reelection in 1975. In 1962, Dowding was a founding member of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. He died in 2003.

References

1918 births 2003 deaths People from Kamloops Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia British Columbia Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MLAs British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia {{NDP-BritishColumbia-MLA-stub